Stay On Your Side of the Yellow Lines!!!

[RRR]

Originally Posted by docj

It's never made sense to me that the law requires that a driver possess a CDL to drive a commercial vehicle >26,000 lbs, but in many states an RVer doesn't even need an upgraded license, let alone having to demonstrate proficiency in driving a large vehicle.

Not that being forced to upgrade a license automatically makes one a better driver, but I honestly think that my CDL "B" classes and the training that my wife received from RV Driving School, helped make us both better drivers of our MH, especially when we first started driving it ~8 years ago.

My course included quite a few hours of driving a large straight truck alongside a crusty retired truck driver who was my instructor. He didn't like wasting time having us drive on in the interstate because "any fool can do that!" We spent our time mostly driving on winding country roads and narrow city streets because that was where you "really learned" to drive!

Personally, I'm pretty sure the RV industry has lobbied hard to minimize the licensing requirements for RV owners in various states. In Maryland, at the time we purchase our MH, dealers were pretty much silent on telling drivers that they needed upgraded licenses to legally drive many of the RVs they were selling. And when I asked the Motor Vehicles folks how they could allow drivers to register vehicles which they didn't hold valid licenses to drive the answer was that "just because they own it doesn't prove they're going to drive it!"

The bottom line is that none of us should be surprised that we encounter as many poor RV drivers as we do.

Joel (AKA docj)

Amen.

[JpalmerCass]

Originally Posted by dennis45

Precisely the reason I have a dash cam.

And if a wreck is your fault do you intend to destroy the evidence?

[Blaster]

And as long as he is on his side when he passes someone, no harm is done. Does no one on here ever cross the yellow line. Just make sure your on your side when you meet and pass someone. I have been on roads that a wide body would have one side on the white and the other on the yellow.

[Hooligan]

Originally Posted by docj

It's never made sense to me that the law requires that a driver possess a CDL to drive a commercial vehicle >26,000 lbs, but in many states an RVer doesn't even need an upgraded license, let alone having to demonstrate proficiency in driving a large vehicle.

Not that being forced to upgrade a license automatically makes one a better driver, but I honestly think that my CDL "B" classes and the training that my wife received from RV Driving School, helped make us both better drivers of our MH, especially when we first started driving it ~8 years ago.

Joel (AKA docj)

......................................
Your personal training and driving courses certainly would improve driving skills and are well worthwhile. My concern is many of the Non -commercial CDL/ Class B requirements are so poorly administered that they are ineffective. Another discussion here on IRV2 has an excellent post by Airboss68 on this subject. DMV officals and LEO's were not aware of requirements or testing.
(see post 15 here http://www.irv2.com/forums/f84/non-c...-443456-2.html

I remember another post where the driver of a 42 ft RV was asked to back up to a loading ramp as part of non-CDL test.

[docj]

Originally Posted by Hooligan

......................................

I remember another post where the driver of a 42 ft RV was asked to back up to a loading ramp as part of non-CDL test.

As part of my CDL I had to back 200' within parallel lines, back up to a loading dock and parallel park. Am I likely to do any of things with my MH? No, but backing into a campsite has a lot of similarity with these maneuvers. Why is there something wrong with how to learn how to handle your RV? Heaven forbid that an RVer actually has to demonstrate that he knows how to drive his rig.

[RCW]

Originally Posted by Blaster

And as long as he is on his side when he passes someone, no harm is done. Does no one on here ever cross the yellow line. Just make sure your on your side when you meet and pass someone. I have been on roads that a wide body would have one side on the white and the other on the yellow.

I could not agree more! If he's on his side of the road when we pass, why should I care!

[msaffa33]

Originally Posted by Old-Biscuit

Just one reason I hug White line on right side of roadway.....

My DW does also. I am always telling him move a little left...

[FatChance]

This won't be popular, but having lived in the mountains for 50 years, it scares me seeing flatlanders from places with rectilinear section roads driving big RVs on western mountain roads with curves...

[D Gardiner]

Lived in the California mountains for 15 years. People driving on your side of the road was the normal. Annoying but normal. Personally, I think they are too lazy to turn the steering wheel.

You would also assume they would move over for my F250 Super Duty. NOPE!
I can not count how many times I put the right tires into the dirt to keep from being hit head-on!

[Dutch Star Don]

I have a different view......just my opinion! I don't think the coach in the picture, being left of center, is the felony some are making it out to be. What you can't see in that photo is what the other driver could see before he crossed that line. He also had PLENTY of distance, on that road, to get back in his lane. Especially since it was a grade and I'm sure no one was doing 60mph.

When driving a DP in the mountains, such as in the photo, it's not like a car and going to accelerate out of the corners and get right back to the speed limit. If I can see that the next three turns have no vehicle in them, I may take a curve wide to stay in my power band and then back into my lane. Not only does it make the drive easier on me and the coach, but it may prevent backing up traffic behind me (cars) that want to do the speed limit.

I'm not saying to drive left of center on every curve, but sometimes it is safe to do so. Please don't quote the law, because I'm sure that no one does the speed limit on EVERY road they drive.

[danhannah]

Originally Posted by pumper9x9

No Chief Brunacini passed away about a year and half ago. He was a National Leader in the Fire Service who I always admired.

Funniest instructor I ever had.

[JFXG]

Originally Posted by pumper9x9

.....I've had to hit my brakes and go for the shoulder countless times for cars, motorcycles, semi's, flatbeds, garbage trucks, dump trucks, oversize vehicles...

Geez.... I can’t begin to tell you how deprived and disadvantaged I feel after reading this thread! Look at all the excitement you folks have had, the adrenaline flow, the horrific stories you can tell your grand-kids, all those opportunities to regale your friends around the old campfire. And the oneupsmanship!!! Well, you guys can probably top just about anyone’s story!
And what’ve I got? Squat, that’s what. We’ve been full timing in our Dutch Star for seven full years now, (45 of the lower 48), and I’ve never been run off the road by an errant trucker, brake-checked by some two-digit-IQ texting car driver, and never- not once- had to “...hit my brakes and go for the shoulder...”, or anything else even remotely as picturesque. Totally boring.
And it’s even worse than that! Before retirement RVing, I spent 8 years driving limos and buses. Total snooze-fest. And before that I spent 20 years flying airplanes professionally (some of ‘em kinda big) and never had an emergency, never had a catastrophic failure of anything. I tell you....quiet, uneventful days follow me around like an annoying little dog! I don’t know what I’m doing wrong, but I’m gonna have to take some lessons from you guys just so I’ll have some stories! I need to get some pzazz into my life!!

[tnedator]

Originally Posted by Dutch Star Don

I have a different view......just my opinion! I don't think the coach in the picture, being left of center, is the felony some are making it out to be. What you can't see in that photo is what the other driver could see before he crossed that line. He also had PLENTY of distance, on that road, to get back in his lane. Especially since it was a grade and I'm sure no one was doing 60mph.

When driving a DP in the mountains, such as in the photo, it's not like a car and going to accelerate out of the corners and get right back to the speed limit. If I can see that the next three turns have no vehicle in them, I may take a curve wide to stay in my power band and then back into my lane. Not only does it make the drive easier on me and the coach, but it may prevent backing up traffic behind me (cars) that want to do the speed limit.

I'm not saying to drive left of center on every curve, but sometimes it is safe to do so. Please don't quote the law, because I'm sure that no one does the speed limit on EVERY road they drive.

I'll add to this.

I just recently went through my second round with RV Driving School, this one mostly focused on getting my wife comfortable(ish) with a 44' long coach, but also tips for me as compared to driving my much shorter ACE gasser.

Anyway, the instructor hammered into my and my brother in laws head NOT to ride the white line, which both of us had been doing. My original thought, and what I was doing, was hugging the white line, because it gave me the most room between me and oncoming traffic.

His warning against doing that was two fold.

1st. You simply have no margin for error, whether it's a gust of wind, momentary loss of concentration, taking a turn a little fast and drifting, etc.

2nd. He said the right edge of the road is the weakest point and pointed to many sections where it was partially damaged just inside the white line. He said, "do you want to be the 40,000lb vehicle going around the corner when the right edge of the road breaks away?"

So, he teaches much different. He teaches you to hug the yellow line. When on very tight roads (as we have many of in Arkansas, and I'm sure some of those mountain roads mentioned are), you often have very little 6-12" (maybe) on each side of the RV if you are centered.

As mentioned, a brief crossing of the line, if conditions dictate, if you are in control and clear the road/traffic ahead allows, might be the safest course of action.

I know in Arkansas, many roads have no shoulders (8-18" to right of white line), and in recent years they've gone rumble strip crazy to add rumble strips to these highways (with lots of truck traffic) to try and help warn of an imminent road way departure.

[Hooligan]

Originally Posted by docj

As part of my CDL I had to back 200' within parallel lines, back up to a loading dock and parallel park. Am I likely to do any of things with my MH? No, but backing into a campsite has a lot of similarity with these maneuvers. Why is there something wrong with how to learn how to handle your RV? Heaven forbid that an RVer actually has to demonstrate that he knows how to drive his rig.

docj- I don't argue with that at all. Training/proficiency is always important.- My concern is the State non -CDL requirements that are hard to discern prior to a test and DMV offices that have no idea what or if there is a requirement. Prior RV was 36ft DP, I think a thorough understanding of the airbrake system and use is important enough to require a license endorsement.